Puckerman Unknown
by Shadowkitty22
Summary: He'd never heard of a Charlie in his family but it's not like Puckerman is an incredibly common last name and what not.


**A/N:** This was written for enchantedrose80 who left a prompt over at the puckrachel drabble meme on livejournal. Since this is quite obviously not a drabble (4300+ words! Holy crap I haven't written something that long in a while and it felt good) I decided to not put it in my drabble collection. It's definitely unlike anything I've ever written before (or at least it feels that way to me). It's more a story about Puck than about Puckleberry but Rachel does pop up every now and then. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it because I had a lot of fun working on it.

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><p>Puck sighed as he slung his guitar case across his body and adjusted it until the strap was comfortable across his chest before making his way out of the music shop where he taught guitar lessons three days a week. It was just one of the many jobs he'd had since moving to New York with Rachel to pursue a degree at NYU in music composition. But it turned out that college, like high school, didn't really agree with him so he had wound up dropping out and just picking up jobs wherever he could in order to pay the rent and other bills that come with living in the Big Apple.<p>

He really enjoyed teaching people how to play the guitar and had thought many times that perhaps he could actually do that for a living but then he would remember all the snot nosed little rich kids and teenagers that he'd had to deal with in the past and it just loses its appeal. Puck knows that Rachel wishes he had stayed in school and gotten a degree but she's also smart enough to know that college just isn't for everyone and she loves him enough to support him emotionally (since he's gotten better at expressing his). She also tries to help out where she can financially but since it's now her senior year at NYADA, she's been focusing heavily on her school work as well as her upcoming performances for the Senior Showcase. He knows how important that shit is to her and her plans for taking over Broadway so he doesn't really mind that he's essentially working his ass off so that they don't have to live in squalor. Doesn't keep him from wishing that he could just find one really good job that would give them enough money so that he could actually you know, spend some time with his girl from time to time.

When his stomach grumbled, Puck pulled out his wallet to double check that he had enough cash to get some lunch before heading into some deli that was on his side of the street. Standing in the relatively short line he took his time looking over the menu since he'd never been to this particular deli before, which really wasn't surprising given the insane amount of delis that New York City had. Quickly deciding on a Reuben sandwich on rye bread he placed his order and stood along the counter watching the portly man with the balding head, who desperately needed a shave, make his sandwich.

They engaged in mild chit chat about the usual topics; the weather, Mets or the Yankees and even music since he apparently noticed the guitar strapped to his back. But Puck was surprised when he heard the man, Earl (as he told Puck to call him), ask him if he knew a Charlie Puckerman that works at the fire station down the block. "No, I've never heard the name," Puck told him. "Why do you ask?"

Earl just glanced over him once more before returning to the philly cheese steak that he was making for another customer as he mulled over his answer before saying, "Because you look like him. But hey they say everyone's got a twin in the world somewhere, right?" He chuckled in an attempt to just brush off the topic. "Anyway, I'll let you get back to your sandwich before it gets cold. Can't have you thinking ole Earl here doesn't make the best Reuben sandwiches in all of Manhattan."

Puck smirked and thanked the man before walking over to one of the tables alongside the large window. Taking a big bite of the hot corned beef, sauerkraut and Swiss cheese between the slices of fresh rye bread, he moaned at how amazing it tasted. Apparently Earl wasn't kidding when he said he made the best Reubens. He slowly ate his sandwich while he pondered what he had just heard from the other man. He'd never heard of a Charlie in his family but it's not like Puckerman is an incredibly common last name and what not.

Once he finished the sandwich, Puck wadded up the wrapper and tossed it in the trash can by the door. He grabbed his guitar and called out a friendly, "You too," in response to Earl telling him to have a nice day. He knew that he should probably just leave well enough alone but he couldn't get the idea of looking like some dude named Charlie Puckerman out of his mind and he just had to see this for himself. He glanced up and down the street and began heading in the direction of the fire station that he assumed Earl had been talking about.

When he finally reached the large brick building, Puck just stood outside and stared at it for a few minutes before he blew out a loud breath and walked inside. As the door shut behind him, his eyes adjusted to the inside lighting and then roamed around the front area taking it all in. There was a long counter in the middle of the room, clearly marking off the area that was for the firefighters and the one that was for civilians. Taped to the front of the counter were all sorts of flyers talking about fire safety, CPR classes, how to properly install child car seats, etc. There was a bulletin board on one wall that had other various pieces of information that really wasn't of any interest to him, instead his attention turned to the red headed young man behind the counter. He didn't really look like he belonged in a fire station (seriously the dude looked like he was fifteen) but you never know in this day and age.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

Puck cleared his throat, "Uh yeah, is there a Charlie Puckerman here?"

The guy nodded his head and walked towards a door that headed into the back of the station and called out, "Hey, Pops, there's someone here to see you." Turning back to Puck he said, "It'll be just a minute. He's in the middle of kicking some ass at ping pong." They both just chuckled and waited for Charlie to appear.

From the back room they heard a voice call out, "Who is it, Wyatt?" and Puck assumed that must be the name of the kid behind the counter. But before he even had the chance to respond, the Charlie guy walked into the office and stopped short when he saw who was waiting for him.

"Wow," Wyatt murmured quietly.

Puck couldn't help but agree with the dude since the resemblance between himself and this Charlie Puckerman was fucking uncanny. The older man had a full head of short curly dark hair that had some grey streaks in it (he knew that his own hair would be just as curly if he ever bothered to let it grow out), bright hazel eyes and the same strong jaw. If he didn't know any better, he'd think that he was looking at a future version of himself in about 20-25 years. It was fucking weird.

The elder Puckerman cleared his throat and said, "I'm Charlie. What can I do for you?"

Puck just continued to stare dumbly for a moment longer before shaking his head as if to clear out the cobwebs and then replied, "I was having lunch at Earl's Deli about an hour ago and he mentioned you and said that we resembled each other. I'd never heard of you before but I was curious so I had to come see for myself. Why the fuck do you look like me?"

"Well seeing as how I'm the older one here I think the proper question would be why you look like me," Charlie responded with a smile. "What's your name, Son?"

"I'm Puck," he told him out of habit. "Well actually it's Noah. Noah Puckerman."

The older male flinched ever so slightly at hearing his own last name come out of the young man's mouth. "Puckerman," he repeated as he rubbed a hand over his mouth and secretly hoped that the guy in front of him wasn't the result of some one night stand that he never knew resulted in a child. "Who are your parents?"

"Ava and Ethan Puckerman," Puck answered and he didn't miss the way Charlie's eyes flashed at hearing those names.

"Fucking Ethan," Charlie muttered as he ran a hand through his curly hair.

Hands shoved into his jeans pockets, Puck asked, "Do you know them?"

He nodded. "Yeah I used to know your dad. Why don't you come with me and I'll tell you what I know." Charlie turned towards Wyatt and told him, "We'll be in the break room if anyone needs me and tell Kathleen when she comes back in from her run that she's free to go home."

"Sure thing, Pops," the kid replied as the two Puckermans walked past him.

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><p>Charlie and Puck sat across from each other at one of the tables in the break room and just stared silently at each other before the elder Puckerman spoke, "So how old are you, Noah?"<p>

"I just turned 22. Why do we look alike?" he asked cutting straight to the chase.

The firefighter drummed his fingers on the table out of nervous habit before he bluntly said, "I'm your uncle. Ethan is my younger brother."

"Bullshit," Puck spit out quickly. "My _father_," he said with such vehemence that it actually shocked the other man, "didn't have any brothers."

He laughed mirthlessly, "It sounds like there's no love lost between you and him."

Puck snorted. "Kind of hard to love a douchebag that just up and leaves when you're only seven years old and my ma was pregnant with my kid sister. And then to watch her struggle to raise two kids on her own while working multiple jobs."

"It seems the phrase _like father like son _would be appropriate here," he said offhandedly.

"I am _nothing_ like that bastard," he practically shouted. "I wouldn't leave my family like that."

The older man got a sudden smile on his face. "Do you have a wife and kids?"

Puck just shook his head and said, "No not yet. Just my girlfriend, Rachel, but I'm sure we'll get there one day and there's no way in fucking hell I'm going to be anything like _him_. But back to the topic at hand, if you're his older brother how come I never heard about you?"

Charlie nodded his head solemnly, like only a person who has seen too much bad shit in life can. "I was born in 1966 to Aaron and Miriam Puckerman. Ethan was born ten years later and then our dad left us about five years later."

"Well that's just fucking great. Abandonment runs in the fucking family," Puck muttered.

"So it would seem," Charlie agreed, "but just stick to your guns about not being like Ethan and I'm sure you'll be fine. Break the cycle and all that crap. So anyway, back to the story. After he left, our mother kind of went off the deep end and pretty much put us both on lockdown. The only time we could ever do anything outside of the house was when it was for some function at our Temple. I wasn't even allowed to join any clubs or sports when I was in high school."

Puck just sat there and tried to imagine what his life would have been like if he hadn't been able to join football and baseball in high school, or hell even Glee club. "That must have sucked."

"Definitely not the best years of my life, especially once I met Annie. In addition to not being allowed to have a social life outside of school hours or Temple, I was also expected to marry a nice Jewish girl and give my mother Jewish grandbabies. Unfortunately for her, I fell in love with Annie who is a Protestant and once we graduated high school we got married and moved out here. That appeared to be the last straw for my mother because she told me on my wedding day that she would disown me and erase me from her life if I went through with it. I haven't heard from her since and that was twenty seven years ago. I guess she told Ethan to forget about me as well if you've never heard of me."

Puck nodded, "Yeah I mean he wasn't around for a long time or anything but he never talked about you and Ma never mentioned you either."

"Not surprising," he murmured as his fingers tapped out a random beat against his thighs, "she probably never even knew about me. But you have to know, Noah, that if I had had any inkling that you and your sister existed that I would've been there to help out your mother. Even though my mother disowned me, family is still incredibly important to me." Charlie reached out and briefly placed his hand over Puck's as he looked him in the eye. "I would have loved to stay in contact with Ethan after everything that happened but a few years later he said some incredibly offensive and unforgiveable things about my Annie and then just stopped talking to me as well. I haven't heard from him in close to twenty four years."

The younger Puckerman didn't know what to do with all of this new information. It was a lot to deal with in one day, discovering that you have family out there that you never even knew about. It was one thing to know that his own daughter was growing up without really knowing him but this just feels so incredibly different. Yeah he got to be around her during his senior year of high school when Shelby returned, but he knew that he had to let her go and move on with his life. Because as much as he loved Beth he knew that she wasn't his daughter to raise and teach about life. He just hoped that one day Shelby would tell her how much he loved her and only wanted what was best for her. It's those feelings that allow Puck to kind of understand what Charlie was talking about and he told him as such. "I believe you, Charlie. You seem like an alright guy and it probably would have been pretty cool to have you around while I was growing up. Good prominent male role model and all that shit."

His uncle (fuck that was a weird thing to think) smiled at him. "I really do mean that, Noah. Annie and I were never able to have children so it would have been wonderful to watch you and your sister grow up. Do you happen to have a picture of her?"

"Yeah," Puck said as he dug his cell phone out of his pocket and started flipping through the photos until he found one of him, his sister and Rachel. He flipped it around so Charlie could see and said, "That's my sister, Sarah, on the left and my girlfriend."

The older man smiled at seeing the picture of his niece he never knew he had. "They're both very pretty. Is Rachel Jewish?"

Puck looked at him for a moment before saying, "Yeah but what's it to you? I mean Annie's not Jewish so you don't really have room to say anything."

Charlie was briefly taken aback by his nephew's sudden change in attitude but kept talking, "I know it's not. I just wanted to make sure that you're not with her just because she's Jewish and it's what your mother wants."

Noah bristled slightly at those words and ground out, "You don't know shit about my ma. She's not like yours. Yeah she's completely thrilled that Rach is Jewish but she could care less if the woman I want to marry was Jewish or not. She loves Rachel regardless of her religion because my girl is _fucking amazing_."

The firefighter held his hands up in surrender and said, "Sorry. I didn't mean to say that your mother is anything like mine was but I know how Jewish women can be and I just want you to be happy."

"Well Rachel makes me happy. We've been through so much shit together and I'm incredibly lucky to have the love of a woman like her," he said in a lighter tone.

"Good, I'm glad. I'm sure you deserve it," Charlie said with a smile on his face. "So tell me about yourself, Noah. Are you in college? Do you have a job?"

Puck settled back into his chair and looked at the picture of Rachel and him on his phone before shoving it back into his pocket. He cleared his throat and ran a hand over the stubble on his head and said, "Well I came here with Rachel to go to school but I discovered that it's just not really for me. So to the disappointment of my mother, and I'm sure Rachel even though she denies it, I dropped out. I've been doing various jobs ever since just trying to find something that really sticks but so far I'm not having any real luck."

"What all have you done?"

"It feels like practically everything. I used to be a bicycle courier and let me tell you, that fucking sucked. Yeah sure it was awesome for my leg muscles but biking all over the city is not my idea of fun. I tried my hand out at a few different retail stores but those didn't work out either. I'm currently a waiter at T.G.'s in Times Square, which is alright but I definitely don't want to be doing it forever. I also teach guitar a few days a week at a guitar shop not that far from here."

"You play?" Charlie asked as his eyes moved over to the instrument that was sitting next to his nephew.

Puck nodded and smiled proudly as he ran his hand over the guitar case. "I picked it up not long after he left us and ma wanted to give me something to do to help keep me out of trouble since I had a knack for getting into a lot of fights back then in order to work out my anger issues. I kinda fell in love with it especially when I realized that I was a natural."

"That's wonderful," he said proudly. "What about Sarah?"

"She's in high school now and apparently has a knack for photography. Ma's not really sure where she got the talent for it from since nobody in the family has ever shown much interest in it. But she's on the school yearbook committee and likes it well enough."

"And Rachel?" he asked curiously. Charlie felt like he had so much lost time to make up for and he was grateful that it seemed to be a relatively quiet day at the fire station since the alarm hadn't gone off once the entire time they had been talking.

Noah's face broke out with a huge smile that clearly showed how in love he was with his girlfriend as he responded, "Rachel's incredible. Her voice is crazy unbelievable and I literally get chills every time I hear her sing. She's in her final year at NYADA and wants to be on Broadway one day and I know she'll get there. She's this little five foot two bundle of energy and determination to achieve all of her dreams and I can't wait to be there when she accomplishes each and everyone."

Charlie can't help but smile at his nephew's obvious love for the young woman. "She sounds really special."

"Rachel's the best thing that has ever happened to me and I'm going to marry her one day," he said seriously. "I just want to have a better job than being a waiter and part time guitar teacher before I put a ring on her finger."

Suddenly the fire station alarm started to go off. Puck was startled because he wasn't used to the noise while Charlie on the other hand jumped into action and ran to where the trucks were parked and began shouting out orders. Puck just sat there and watched as various firefighters started rushing around as they gathered up their gear and suited up. He had never actually seen real firefighters in action but he remembered that he used to want to be one when he was a little boy, just like pretty much every other boy his age wanted to be at some point in time. He was amused when he saw one dude actually slide down the pole because he didn't think they actually did that kind of stuff. Kinda just thought it was something they only did in the movies and on tv. Before he knew it, a team of firefighters had jumped onto the red truck and were on their way to put out a fire somewhere.

He felt more than heard when his phone rang in his pocket and he pulled it out to see Rachel's name on the screen before he hit the accept button. "Hey, Babe, what's up?"

"What's that noise, Noah? Where are you? Are you ok?" she asked, firing off the questions one right after the other.

Puck chuckled and said, "It's ok, Rach. I'm fine. Actually you're not going to believe where I am and who I'm with."

"Ok…" she replied slowly. "Do I want to know?"

"So I know this is going to sound kinda crazy," he started, "but I was having lunch at this deli and the dude behind the counter said I looked like this firefighter he knows and I got curious so I went to check him out. Turns out I have a long lost Uncle Charlie on my dad's side of the family and that we actually do look a lot alike. I've been talking to him for awhile."

Rachel's voice chirped perkily in his ear, "That's amazing, Noah! You'll have to tell me all about him later."

"Sure thing, although I gotta admit this has all been rather surreal. Did I tell you he's a firefighter?"

She giggled, "Yes, Noah, you mentioned what he does for a living."

"Oh, right," he said. "Sorry it's just all so new to me. Anyway, I should let you go. It looks like he's coming back. I love you, Babe."

"I love you too, Noah. Have a good time with your uncle and I'll see you when you get home." He hung up the phone right as his uncle sat down across the table from him again. "You didn't need to go with them?"

Charlie shook his head. "No. Actually my shift was just about over when you showed up. I've been off the clock for the past two hours."

"Well shit," Puck said. "I didn't mean to keep you here if you needed to get home to your wife or something."

"It's alright, Noah. I haven't wanted to leave because I've enjoyed talking to you." He smiled at the younger man. "So before the alarm rang you were saying something about wanting a better job before you proposed right?" Puck nodded. "Well have you ever considered being a firefighter? Yes it can be a dangerous job but it's also highly rewarding knowing that you saved someone's life or kept their house from burning down."

He considered his uncle's words before speaking. "It's definitely something I once thought about when I was just a kid but I've gotta admit seeing everyone in action just now was rather exciting. They all looked like they were ready to kick ass and take names."

Charlie chuckled at the description of his crew. "Yeah they like to do that. It's a physically taxing job but you look like you're in great shape and would be able to handle it. I can give you an application if you want. There's rigorous training that you have to go through before you can officially become a firefighter but if you're interested I'd be more than happy to take you on here at this station."

Puck couldn't believe his luck. Opportunities never just fall into his lap like that but it's definitely too good to just pass up without giving it serious consideration. "I'll have to talk it over with Rachel since it doesn't just affect me since anything could happen on this job. But yeah I'd like one."

"Smart man," Charlie said and stood up. "Well I hate to cut this short but I really should start heading home. I know Annie was expecting me hours ago and I didn't think to call her and tell her I'd be late."

"Yeah I understand. I know Rachel wants to hear all about you," Puck said as he stood up as well. He held out his hand to the older man and was surprised when instead of just shaking his hand Charlie pulled him into a hug which he returned surprisingly easily.

"It was wonderful to meet you, Noah. I'm glad you walked into Earl's this afternoon," Charlie whispered in his ear.

Puck swallowed around the unexpected (and totally unbadass) lump in his throat as he replied, "Me too, Charlie." Pulling away from each other he looked around the fire station once more before turning to his uncle with an almost childlike grin on his face. "Hey, Charlie, can I ask for one favor before I leave?"

The seasoned firefighter stared at the young man before laughing. "You want to slide down the pole don't you?"

"That obvious huh?" Puck asked as he rubbed his hand over the back of his head.

Charlie grinned. "Go for it."


End file.
